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Avalara Unveils Cloud Sales Tax Returns Solution for Accounting Firms of All Sizes

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Avalara, Inc. (NYSE: AVLR), a leading provider of cloud-based tax compliance automation for businesses of all sizes, today announced the availability of Avalara Managed Returns for Accountants (MRA), a cloud sales tax returns solution designed exclusively for accounting firms. MRA enables firms to extend their practice with automated sales tax preparation and filing services, provide clients with the benefits of a fully managed returns service, and add efficiency while focusing on other high-value services.

The new offering also helps firms reduce clients’ tax compliance risk. MRA leverages the same technology currently used by Avalara to process over 1.5 million returns and remit over $9 billion in sales and use tax in 2020.

“Avalara understands what our firm needed to grow and scale our state and local tax practice, as a result of their many years of insights into the complex tax compliance challenges that businesses of all sizes are facing today, as well as their close alliances with accounting partners,” said Chris Vignone, CEO & managing SALT director at PM Business Advisors. “Adopting a fully managed cloud automation solution gives us an advantage in differentiating our service offerings, and with MRA, we can market and deliver tax automation services to clients and prospects under the firm brand, with Avalara as our trusted partner.”

Clients rely on their accounting firms to manage sales tax accurately and on time, but the time and expense of filing and remittance across thousands of tax jurisdictions stretches existing resources and limits growth potential. Avalara’s new outsourced tax compliance automation offering allows firms to:

• Support clients with an easy-to-use dashboard. Access the filing process for all clients and their returns from a single dashboard designed for accountant workflow, with customizable, multi-client views, all managed from one cloud-based system. There’s no need to handle multiple spreadsheets or sign in to multiple systems or state websites.
• Automatically track state and local jurisdiction filing requirements. MRA automatically prepares tax returns based on the appropriate government forms and state and local requirements, eliminating the need to navigate multiple department of revenue sites.
• Remit payments on clients’ behalf. Avalara works directly with departments of revenue. Once a firm approves a client’s tax liability worksheet, Avalara handles the filing, payment, and related notice management (at firm’s request) on behalf of clients and keeps firm up to date on filing status.
• Permit staff to work remotely. By using Avalara’s cloud-based solution, accounting firm staff can manage clients’ sales tax returns from any location, keeping the firm nimble and efficient.
• Support omnichannel data imports. MRA provides robust data import functions to easily aggregate client sales information from multiple channels and marketplaces.
• Keep client data safe. Avalara’s new returns solution provides strong security controls designed to keep clients’ data safe.

Avalara launches MRA as professionals work overtime to help clients manage an increasing list of tax-related trends, including increased sales tax complexity following the 2018 South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. Supreme Court decision. This action resulted in ongoing state-specific economic nexus legislation, with nearly every state having varying effective dates, exemptions, and thresholds, thereby forcing clients across industries to navigate an ever-changing maze of compliance. In tandem, pandemic-driven state budget shortfalls are pushing jurisdictions toward enhanced enforcement of sales tax laws, putting clients at greater risk.

“Avalara has believed since its founding that the broad adoption of tax automation is inevitable, and accountants have always been part of the Avalara vision,” said Sanjay Parthasarathy, chief product officer at Avalara. “Today we’re very excited to announce what accounting professionals have been requesting for years, and now require as never before — the ability to utilize Avalara’s platform to build a firm tax compliance foundation in the cloud, and address unprecedented compliance challenges for clients across industries. MRA gives firms of all sizes the ability to offer scalable tax compliance automation services to their clients, and contribute meaningfully to firm growth in 2021.”

“There is a significant opportunity for accounting firms to assist more clients with sales tax compliance complexity resulting from continued state-by-state economic nexus legislation,” said Kevin Permenter, research manager, IDC. “Avalara’s new outsourced tax compliance service gives firms a cloud platform to address client needs at scale, while gaining new efficiencies and taking an anticipatory stance toward the future of tax compliance complexity.”

Register here to get an inside view of MRA during our January 21 product launch webcast. Or, to connect with a specialist and learn how to get started with MRA, contact us at [email protected].

About Avalara

Avalara helps businesses of all sizes get tax compliance right. In partnership with leading ERP, accounting, ecommerce, and other financial management system providers, Avalara delivers cloud-based compliance solutions for various transaction taxes, including sales and use, VAT, GST, excise, communications, lodging, and other indirect tax types. Headquartered in Seattle, Avalara has offices across the U.S. and around the world in Brazil, Europe, and India. More information at avalara.com.

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KEYWORDS: United States North America Washington

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Other Professional Services Software Finance Data Management Accounting Professional Services Technology Security

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Company Revenues, Gross Margin and EPS All Exceed Guidance

Avacta Announces License Agreement With POINT Biopharma Inc.

License to utilise Avacta’s pre|CISION FAP-sensitive activation platform for radiopharmaceuticals

CAMBRIDGE, England & WETHERBY, England–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), the developer of innovative cancer therapies and diagnostics based on its proprietary Affimer^® and pre|CISION™ platforms, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a license agreement with POINT Biopharma Inc. (“POINT”), to provide access to Avacta’s pre|CISION technology for the development of tumour-activated radiopharmaceuticals.

The radiopharmaceutical market is expected to grow to $15 billion by 2025¹ and there is a substantial opportunity to grow much faster if safety and tolerability of these effective treatments can be improved. POINT Biopharma is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing radioligands² as precision medicines for the treatment of cancer.

Avacta’s proprietary pre|CISION chemistry can be used to modify a radioligand drug to form a tumour-activated prodrug. The prodrug form is inactive in circulation until it enters the tumour micro-environment where it is activated by an enzyme called fibroblast activation protein (or FAP) that is present in high abundance in most solid tumours but not in healthy tissue. Avacta’s pre|CISION technology therefore has the potential to improve the tolerability and achieve better clinical outcomes for patients compared with standard radiopharmaceuticals by targeting the radioligand treatment more specifically to cancer cells.

The agreement provides POINT with an exclusive license to the pre|CISION technology for use in the first radiopharmaceutical prodrug the company intends to develop, and a non-exclusive license to the pre|CISION platform for the development of a broader pipeline of FAP-activated radiopharmaceuticals.

Under the terms of the agreement, Avacta will receive an upfront fee and development milestones for the first radiopharmaceutical prodrug totaling $9.5 million. Avacta will also receive milestone payments for subsequent radiopharmaceutical prodrugs of up to $8 million each, a royalty on sales of FAP-activated radiopharmaceuticals by POINT and a percentage of any sublicensing income received by POINT.

Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Avacta Group, commented: “I am very pleased to have established this partnership with POINT that allows Avacta to exploit its pre|CISION platform in a therapeutic area outside of our in-house focus on chemotherapy prodrugs.

The clinical and commercial rationale for our pre|CISION prodrug platform is to improve the safety and efficacy of many existing drugs, as well as generating a pipeline of new and novel cancer therapies. In oncology, we believe that this approach will result in better response rates for monotherapies, and a greater safety margin, to enable their use with a larger patient population and as part of combination therapies.

The in-house development of AVA6000 Pro-doxorubicin, the first of our pre|CISION chemotherapy prodrugs for which we have recently submitted a CTA filing in the UK to begin clinical trials in 2021, has already generated significant interest and this is highlighted by the agreement with POINT announced today.

The potential of the pre|CISION platform to significantly improve outcomes for patients treated with existing cancer therapies through improved safety, tolerability and dosing regimens is enormous. In addition, Avacta is combining the pre|CISION technology with the Affimer platform to create an entirely new class of proprietary TMAC drug conjugates.

I look forward to updating the market on further progress on these and the diagnostic programmes across the Group in the near term.”

¹https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/radio-pharmaceutical-market-1650

² For more information about radioligands visit https://www.radioligands.org

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Zyme Communications

Katie Odgaard

Tel: +44 (0) 7787 502 947

[email protected]

KEYWORDS: United Kingdom Europe

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Oncology Health Clinical Trials Radiology Pharmaceutical Biotechnology

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Northern Data acquires data center site in Northern Sweden fully powered by green energy

– CEO Thillainathan: “Significant expansion step”

– Lowest electricity prices within the EU with 100 percent renewable energy

– Highly scalable thanks to up to 4.5 gigawatts of available hydropower

FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Northern Data AG (XETRA: NB2, ISIN: DE000A0SMU87) acquires a data center facility in Northern Sweden to meet massive customer demand. The site currently consists of six data center halls on an area of 2.5 hectares and will now be further expanded by Northern Data following the acquisition.

Northern Data’s new site is located in the Northern Swedish city of Boden, which has an average annual temperature of 1.3 degrees Celsius due to its location around 80 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle. The location is therefore ideal for passive energy-saving cooling of the HPC hardware.

In addition to the ideal HPC temperature conditions, the region in Northern Sweden is characterized by high connectivity and very cheap regional surplus electricity from renewable energy sources. The electricity for Northern Data’s new site is 100 percent sourced from renewable energy, generated by hydropower plants in the region. The local hydropower plants have a capacity of about 4.5 gigawatts (GW), producing about 14 terawatt hours (TWh) per year, which is available to Northern Data at the lowest electricity prices in the EU.

Not least due to the cool air temperatures near the Arctic Circle, an excellent PUE value (“Power Usage Effectiveness”) of 1.07 is achieved. The PUE value puts the total energy consumption of a data center in relation to the energy consumption of the IT infrastructure. The closer the value is to 1.0, the more efficient the data center. With a value of 1.07, Northern Data’s future data center is among the worldwide leaders and is well below the industry average of 1.67.

The site, which has won awards for its ultra-efficiency, meets the very highest requirements, with various ISO certifications and was completed by data center operator Hydro66 only in 2019. Northern Data will start allocating hardware instantly due to the high demand from its customers and will continue to massively expand the site immediately.

Northern Data CEO Aroosh Thillainathan comments: “Due to the high demand for HPC capacity, we are constantly reviewing options to quickly secure additional sites through acquisitions in addition to building our own data centers. This allows us to further accelerate our growth. In view of this strategy, the new site in Northern Sweden is not only a real stroke of luck but also a significant expansion step for our company. Not only can we use it instantly, but we can also expand and develop it quite considerably, which we will do immediately. Our new site offers important advantages, such as lowest energy costs and ultra-efficiency, which will make it an important part of the Northern Data group going forward.”

The acquisition of the entire data center facility, including two operating companies and part of the team, is still subject to, among others, a successful due diligence process and will take place through the issuance of EUR 21 million in shares, subject to a full lock-up period of two years, and a cash component of EUR 4 million.

About Northern Data:

Northern Data AG develops and operates global infrastructure solutions in the field of High Performance Computing (HPC). With its customized solutions, the company provides the infrastructure for diverse HPC applications in areas such as bitcoin mining, artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data analytics, IoT or rendering. The internationally active company is now a leading provider in the field of HPC solutions worldwide. Northern Data offers its HPC solutions both in large, stationary data centers and in mobile high-tech data centers that can be set up at any location worldwide. In doing so, the company combines self-developed software and hardware with intelligent concepts for a sustainable energy supply. Northern Data currently employs around 150 people.

Disclaimer:

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for any securities of Northern Data AG, nor does it constitute a securities prospectus of Northern Data AG. The information contained in this press release is not intended to be the basis for any financial, legal, tax or other business decision. Investment or other decisions should not be made solely on the basis of this press release. As in all business and investment matters, please consult qualified professional advice.

Language:		English
Company:		Northern Data AG
		Thurn-und-Taxis-Platz 6
		60313 Frankfurt/Main
		Germany
Phone:		+49 69 34 87 52 25
E-mail:		[email protected]
Internet:		www.northerndata.de
ISIN:		DE000A0SMU87
WKN:		A0SMU8
Listed:		Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich (m:access), Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange

 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210107005349/en/

Press Contact:

Northern Data AG

Dr. Hans Joachim Dürr

Head of Corporate Communications

Thurn-und-Taxis-Platz 6

60313 Frankfurt

E-Mail: [email protected]

Phone: +49 69 348 752 89

Investor Relations:

Sven Pauly

E-Mail: [email protected]

Phone: +49 89 125 09 03 30

KEYWORDS: Germany Europe

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Data Management Other Energy Technology Utilities Alternative Energy Energy

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Posted on January 7, 2021 3:35 am

Ending 2020 with Momentum, Yutong Bus is Ready to Start 2021 Even Stronger

PR Newswire

ZHENGZHOU, China, Jan. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — With a total of 41,756 Yutong buses delivered to customers worldwide in 2020, Yutong Bus envisions the next chapter – 2021, with new expectations.

 

With 2021 starting, Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Co., Ltd. (Yutong Bus, SHA: 600066) initiated a new year campaign, driving a positive vision for people to look ahead to 2021. The campaign achieved over 43 million impressions and attracted over 17 thousand people to join and share their wishes, leading everyone through the better parts of 2020 and reviewing Yutong Bus’ achievements during this atypical year.

The unprecedented 2020 will definitely be a pivotal moment in history. Facing the pandemic, Yutong Bus took on its social responsibility in this global fight and spared no effort to carry out donation action worldwide. Since the outbreak, Yutong Bus sent epidemic resistant materials along with its integrated epidemic prevention experience to 85 countries in Asia, Europe, America, Africa and the Middle East, ultimately benefiting more than 10 million people and strengthening international bonds.

As the representative of Chinese enterprises, Yutong Bus also continued its progress in the field of intelligent technology, rising to the challenge with innovation. The company launched WITGO – the 5G-enabled intelligent mobility solution that upgrades the transport system with big data, cloud computing and IoT. YutongBus successfully challenged the Guinness world record for driving the highest altitude electric bus on Mount Everest. The company also organized industrial seminars to promote the intelligent transformation.

While the industry was in a slump, Yutong Bus maintained a fast-growing global presence as it won clients’ favor worldwide – 760 units were delivered to Kazakhstan, 130 units to Mexico as the world’s largest order of dual-powered trolleybus, 102 units to Norway as the largest EV bus order in Europe and a 1.8 billion worth order of 1,002 units to Qatar, including 741 EV buses as the world’s largest EV bus order.

With high-quality products, integrated solutions and all-around service, Yutong Bus is always devoted to providing a better public travel experience for people around the world. Adhering to the brand value of “better bus better life,” Yutong Bus’ focus is never limited to the bus product but the commitment to jointly create a greener, smarter and more efficient public transportation industry in the future.

Click for more Yutong Bus’ highlight moments in 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3MLuzoixxk

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ending-2020-with-momentum-yutong-bus-is-ready-to-start-2021-even-stronger-301202618.html

SOURCE Yutong Bus

Posted on January 7, 2021 3:33 am

Niu Technologies Provides Fourth Quarter 2020 E-scooter Sales Volume Update

BEIJING, Jan. 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Niu Technologies (“NIU”, or “the Company”) (NASDAQ: NIU), the world’s leading provider of smart urban mobility solutions, today provides its e-scooter sales volume results for the fourth quarter 2020.

	Q4 2020		Q4 2019		Year 2020		Year 2019
China Market	137,586		101,918		572,154		392,459
International Markets	12,119		4,335		28,738		28,867
Total	149,705		106,253		600,892		421,326

In the fourth quarter of 2020, NIU sold 149,705 e-scooters, representing a 40.9% year-over-year growth. The number of e-scooters sold in China market reached 137,586, representing a 35.0% year-over-year growth. The number of e-scooter sold in the international markets reached 12,119¹, an increase of 179.6% compared with the fourth quarter last year.

The growth in China market was mainly driven by retail network expansion and new products such as G0, MQi2 and MQiS, launched earlier this year. The total units of G0 sold during the fourth quarter represents approximately 21.5% of total China market volume. The total units of MQi2 and MQiS sold during the fourth quarter represents approximately 21.2% of total China market volume. The G0 model has lower sales price and gross margin compared with the existing models, and high proportion of sales volume from this model has negative impacts on the blended revenues per scooter and overall gross margin for the fourth quarter.

The growth in the international markets was mainly driven by the demand recovery.

In full year 2020, NIU sold approximately 600,892 e-scooters, representing a 42.6% year-over-year growth. The number of e-scooters sold in China market and international markets reached 572,154 and 28,738, respectively.

Our sales volume count disclosed above is based on the delivery from our manufacturing facility, which may vary slightly from the sales volume measured from financial accounting and reporting point of view. NIU’s sales volume represents only one measure of the company’s financial performance and should not be relied upon as an indicator of quarterly financial results, which depend on a variety of factors, including revenues from accessories, spare parts and services, cost of sales, operating expenses, etc.

About NIU

As the world’s leading provider of smart urban mobility solutions, NIU designs, manufactures and sells high-performance electric bicycles and motorcycles. NIU has a product portfolio consisting of seven series, four e-scooter series, including NQi, MQi and UQi with smart functions and Gova, two urban commuter electric motorcycles series RQi and TQi, and a performance bicycle series, NIU Aero. Different series of products address the needs of different segments of modern urban residents and resolve the demands of different scenarios of urban travel, while being united through a common design language that emphasizes style, freedom and technology. NIU has adopted an omnichannel retail model, integrating the offline and online channels, to offer the products and services. For more information, please visit www.niu.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains statements that may constitute forward-looking statements made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “aims,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “likely to” and similar statements. Among other things, the business outlook and quotations from management in this announcement, as well as NIU’s strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. NIU may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about NIU’s beliefs, plans and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: NIU’s strategies; NIU’s future business development, financial condition and results of operations; NIU’s ability to maintain and enhance its “NIU” brand; its ability to innovate and successfully launch new products and services; its ability to maintain and expand its offline distribution network; its ability to satisfy the mandated safety standards relating to e-scooters; its ability to secure supply of components and raw materials used in e-scooters; its ability to manufacture, launch and sell smart e-scooters meeting customer expectations; its ability to grow collaboration with operation partners; its ability to control costs associated with its operations; general economic and business conditions in China and globally; and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in NIU’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and NIU does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

Niu Technologies
Jason Yang
Investor Relations Manager
E-mail: [email protected]

^{________________________________
1} Our manufacturing facility delivered total 12,879 units, out of which 760 units are pending for custom clearance data to determine whether these units should be reported as fourth quarter 2020 sales or first quarter 2021 sales.